Chandigarh, January 24 2006: Rubbing shoulders with the IT ones, core sector companies have staged a comeback at the Punjab Engineering College placements this year. Not only have they offered better pay packets, the employers have also taken more people.

Overall, the placements are better than last year both in quantity and quality, feel students. This year the cell had to place 120 students of the Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology which had joined the college, over and above the usual 385 of PEC.

The average package has gone up from Rs 2 lakh per annum last year to Rs 2.6 lakh this time. Placement cell incharge Dr ML Gupta said, "It shows a positive trend in the market where the core sector companies like auto, construction etc are hiring people. Each of our students has two offers."

Making a comparison, Dr Gupta said while the placement in core segment companies was only 20 per cent last year this time it is cent per cent. Interestingly, the highest pay packet of Rs 9 lakh per annum has been offered to two students of civil branch by Dubai-based company Lang O'Rourke.

While MNCs like Accenture, Flextronics, Freescale, Fidelity etc came among the brick and mortar companies were L&T, Maruti, Ashok Leyland and Hero Honda. In the information technology segment too the average pay improved by 25 per cent. Another trend this time has been the visit of consultancy companies which bring in more options for students.